Washington: The gunman who killed 49 people at an Orlando gay club was motivated by “extremist information distributed over the internet”, but does not appear to be part of a broader ISIS plot, US President Barack Obama said on Monday, calling it an apparent example of “homegrown extremism”.
“The one thing that we can say is that this is being treated as a terrorist investigation. It appears that the shooter was inspired by various extremist information that was disseminated over the internet,” Obama said.
All those materials are currently being searched, exploited, so that the FBI has a better sense of the pathway that the killer took in making a decision to launch this attack, he added.
Gunman’s dad backs Taliban
The Afghan father of Orlando gay nightclub shooter Omar Mateen had expressed support for the Afghan Taliban and denounced Pakistan in an online video, according to a media report.
Seddique Mateen, who was referred to as Mir Seddique in early news reports, hosted the ‘Durand Jirga Show’ on a channel called Payam-e-Afghan, which broadcasts from California, the Washington Post reported.
In it, the elder Mateen speaks in the Dari language on a variety of political subjects. He does not always make much sense. Dozens of videos are posted on a channel under Seddique Mateen’s name on YouTube.
A phone number and post office box that are displayed on the show were traced back to the Mateen home in Florida, the report said. Seddique’s son Omar, who carried an assault rifle and a pistol into the gay club in Orlando in the wee hours of Sunday and killed 50 people while injuring 53 others, was later shot dead by the police.
Seddique owns a nonprofit organisation under the name Durand Jirga, which is registered in Port St. Lucie, Florida. In a bizarre video he posted on Saturday, Seddique appears to be portraying himself as the Afghan president. In one video, Seddique expresses gratitude toward the Afghan Taliban, while denouncing the Pakistani government, the report said.
